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Here’s one of those instances where you have to remember that The Onion and A.V. Club are separate entities, so when you see a headline like, “Things are so bad for NBC, The Office and 1600 Penn are being bumped in favor of Matlock reruns,” you realize that this is not a parody story, but a thing that actually happened. Yes, WKYC, the Cleveland affiliate for NBC (which finished the last sweeps period in fifth place, behind CBS, Fox, ABC, y Univision) preempted last Thursday’s reruns of The Office and Law and Order: SVU, and a new episode of 1600 Penn, to air a two-hour Matlock episode from 1992. And here’s the best part: in the first hour, WKYC got better ratings for a show old enough to be a drinking human than it did for brand-new programming from the struggling Peacock. The Cleveland station may be onto something: what if networks replaced new shows dwelling in the ratings cellar with reruns of classics that would appeal to the same (or a larger) audience? We’ve got some suggestions after the jump. …Read More